


Mad Season

by Florayna



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-12
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2019-03-17 09:43:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13656414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Florayna/pseuds/Florayna
Summary: Leaving everything blank so only you DnD dudes can get here!





	1. How Bad Could I Possibly Be?

 

Kara sometimes forgets her purpose on patrols like these.

 

It is so unlike the usual route assigned. The city of Diamesk embodies the feverish passion of it’s inhabitants, every terrace in the Upper Quarter to every alley in Beggar’s Vice swarmed with people. The scent of sweat and leather and roaring braziers, spices from distant places, bread from a bakery that’s been open for as long as she can remember. _The smell of progress_ , as the popular saying of the city goes. Though one might find the constant sound of a hundred voices, clashing in attempts to be heard, a fair bit more off-putting than the city scent.

 

But all that is faraway for the moment. A phantom smell and distant murmur in the wind. As Kara skirts the wall that surrounds her city she is treated to an entirely new set of sensations. Intoxicated by the way the grass feels beneath her boot- how it springs back despite the armoured guard’s trampling, how something so delicate can be so uncompromising. Her empty thoughts are flooded by the consequences of the gentle evening breeze. Branches rustle, leaves shiver, somewhere to her left she unthinkingly registers the sound of a bird taking flight. Hazel eyes refocus from the empty void of a still mind, to be graced by the vision that was the forest at sunset. Dying orange streams, like ethereal silk brushing the woodland floor once more before the long night.

 

Her cause for being here, to patrol the wall for anything that might threaten the city, could be easily forgotten indeed. That is until a short few minutes later, when she rounds a sharp corner in the wall to find herself face to face with some unexpected company. A traveller by the looks of it, a woman dressed in the kind of clothes you would expect a successful merchant could afford. Padded leather coat, hiking boots, a heavy looking pack left by her feet. Kara finds herself far more interested in what valuables the bag could hold than the woman herself. Blonde hair, angular features, a thin frame that doesn’t at all seem suited to scaling the city wall.

 

Which, is what Kara assumed the stranger meant to do. Seeing as she held a grappling hook in hand. A rather incriminating thing to have… and with steadily increasing delight, Kara can’t help the grin that stretches across her face as she raises and lowers her right hand in a casual greeting, the sudden movement enough to draw the would be lawbreaker's eyes.

 

“... this is not what it looks like, I assure you.” The stranger responds. Her voice is light, airy, tinged with an unfamiliar accent. Definitely not a local.

 

“Oh. What _does_  this look like then,” Kara replies without missing a beat. She exudes confidence, having handled situations like this dozens of times before. “Like a woman trying to sneak into the city I’ve taken an oath to protect, an oath which, I might remind you, also binds me to ensure the integrity of these walls? Meaning of course, that they keep people out?” She says, tone borderline accusatory as the guardswoman begins taking steps towards the stranger. Yet still she wears that self-satisfied smirk.

 

Whoever the woman is, she’s smart enough to tense at the subtle threats. Not quite quick enough to come up with a witty reply. “… no?”

 

Kara pauses, biting her bottom lip to keep from outright laughing at the woman. “No?” She says, enunciating as if the word is foreign to her. A tense pause of silence passes between them before she continues. “You’re right. You’re just a traveller looking to visit the shining jewel that is Diamesk.”

 

“What?” The woman frowns at Kara, thin brows furrowed and tense stance forgotten.

 

“Mhmm. Just a law abiding traveller, carrying her law abiding goods,” She motions towards the pack by the woman’s feet. “Looking to get into the city without any hassle. A law abiding traveller… who would **graciously**  compensate any kind, dashing guard offering her assistance.”

 

Understanding dawns on the woman’s face. Kara notices the flicker of disgust in her expression… with how many times she’s done this, it has become a familiar sight. People don’t take kindly to guards who take bribes. But so many swallow their principle and fork over coin when it’s convenient to them. The only people who actively sought to rid corruption from the guard were those who couldn’t benefit from it.

And so Kara thinks of her mantra, one silently rehearsed whenever another deal is struck.

'How bad could I possibly be?'

 

 

 

The merchant, Vera is her name, compensates her very well indeed. Kara retires to her quarters that night with a heavy coin purse, a leather jacket she is quickly growing fond of (an extra 'tax' that wasn't covered by the gold), and a promise of ‘future business’ from the begrudgingly grateful woman. Probably to help her sneak more contraband into the city.

 

But tonight, she has more gold than she can possibly waste in the tavern. And that’s all she can muster the presence of mind to care about.


	2. Pearls For The Lady

 

Kara liked the travelling circus. The fantastic stunts, the exotic beasts, tricks and shows that kept the crowds of people cheering without a care for public decency. Whenever they made their stop in the town square of Diamesk, she was there at a moments notice. It was something that hadn’t changed since her youth.

 

So this year, when the stars of one of her favoured attractions ran into a bit of trouble with the authorities, Kara was glad to lend her assistance. A little charismatic talking later, two of her fellow guards were convinced that the rumours of circus members robbing wealthy homes in the middle of the night was naught but that. Rumours. And a little coin to line their pockets ensured they would be far too busy enjoying their nights off duty to worry about it.

 

To show their gratitude before they left (and indeed they left in a hurry) one of the performers slipped Kara a large brass key. “The abandoned tool shed, behind the tavern left of the South Gate,” He said in a hushed tone, sparing Kara a sly wink. “Consider this our gift to you.”

 

She’d assumed it would be something amazing awaiting her within the shed. Like, a lion. Or a stash of those colourful smoke bombs, preferably a chest full of gold but that seemed unlikely. Yet the more she thought about it, the more her mind wandered. These peculiar folk owned so many outlandish things… her prize for helping them would surely be spectacular, wouldn’t it?

 

The key felt like solid gold in her hands as she approached the shed. It slotted easily into a thick padlock (sturdy looking, obviously there was something of value to be protected), which was quickly removed and the door swung open to reveal-

 

“Oh… what?”

 

Kara frowned at the creature in front of her. No magnificent mane, no leathery wings, no fangs the size of her hand, nothing… spectacular. It was…

 

“Moooooo.”  
  
A cow. A cow who wore a necklace- Not a collar. A pearl necklace. A fucking- Kara slammed the doors closed. No way. Did she get the wrong shed? She must’ve, she told herself, starting to walk away when-

 

“MOOO!” The cow barrelled through the doors of the shed in a sudden fit of feral rage.

 

After a week of trying to run away from the damned evil thing to no avail, a week of living in fear of the bloody pest who followed her everywhere, she finally relented. Kara kept the cow.

 

And that is the origin story, of Lady Vanessa Watson.

 


End file.
